Life at Queens
by smsm17
Summary: Casey is finally back to college after a whole year in New York but now she doesn't have any friends or know anybody in school besides Derek, her "brother" ("step brother" "same difference"). Who also coincidentally might be her roommate. But why hasn't Derek told any of his friends about their family situation? Dasey eventually.
1. Chapter 1

I never had trouble making friends before. Okay, maybe that's a lie. I wouldn't say I made a whole lot of friends when I first moved to London. I only really had Emily and whoever I was dating at the time. Probably the main reason I hopped through so many relationships, I didn't like feeling alone every time Emily was busy.

As much as I hate to admit it, Emily probably wouldn't have even gotten so close to me if I hadn't been Derek's sister. I also wouldn't have befriended Sam or Ralph or Sally or anybody else. Derek never had trouble making friends. Seemed like a problem that only I seemed to have. Maybe I would've made more friends if I wasn't always making myself look like an idiot because of Derek though.

Okay anyways, back to the main point, I'm not great at making friends. This is why I was especially nervous coming back to Queens after deferring for the past year to work in New York. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret it. New York was a great experience but now I'm stuck joining college a year after everybody else in my grade. Worst part is, since I took a few classes at community college in New York and some online classes over the summer, I'm a sophomore.

Again, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, because I am really happy that I'll still graduate when I'm supposed to, even though I took a whole year off. But now, I'm considered a 2nd year, which means I can't live in first year housing, so I don't have the advantage of living with people who also don't know anybody else.

Well, I know one person.

Derek.

We had kept in touch while I was in New York, texting and chatting whenever one of us was free. Our schedules didn't always line up well, since I had rehearsals or classes throughout the day and he had practice at night, but that's what was great about texting, he'd respond to all my texts when he was free, and I'd respond when I was free. Also worked out a little better because it was hard to be fighting if we weren't talking to each other at the same time. The whole family had flown down to watch the show, but we didn't really talk one on one then either since I was seeing everybody all at once and only had 24 hours to spend with the entire family.

But I guess we'll make up for that time this year, considering he's the only person I know at this entire school.

Oh, and did I mention he's also my room mate?

—

 _Knock Knock_

The door swings open, and there he is. My step brother with the biggest smirk on his face.

"Casey! Look who finally decided to stop slacking off and show up to college."

"Der-ek! I wasn't slacking, I was getting real world experience AND getting paid for it."

"Hm I don't know Spacey, sounds like slacking to me. Meanwhile I've been here working my butt off at these classes. I think we can officially decide that I'm a harder worker than you."

I rolled my eyes, trying not to give into his bait for an argument.

"Can you let me into OUR apartment now?"

He moves aside and lets me in, taking my backpack from me to "help."

"Derek, I have 3 large suitcases, and you choose to pick up the backpack?"

"Can't hurt my back, precious Hockey goods."

I pretend to be annoyed but I can't hide my smile, while I'm glad I got the experience of living in New York for a year, I had missed my family. Maybe even sort of, just a little bit, missed Derek.

"I already picked the bigger bedroom, but don't worry the other bedroom is closer to the kitchen, so you can still cook all our meals in peace."

"Der-ek!" I yell while going to see if he actually moved all his stuff in, and decide if it's worth moving all his stuff back to the smaller room, or just settling.

"Relax Casey, I figured you wanted the room with the bathroom, instead of having to use the bathroom in the hallway which all our guests are going to be using. I was doing you a favor."

"Oh- well. I guess if I had moved in first I probably would've chose that bedroom too."

When we first started looking for an apartment together, the main thing we were looking for was two bathrooms. It was kind of hard finding a 2 bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms, but considering that was 50% of our fights back in London, and I was trying to start our friendship on a fresh basis, I knew we wouldn't be able to share a bathroom.

And Derek was actually right, I would've chosen the bedroom with it's own bathroom, even if it was the smaller of the two. I don't know what kind of stinky Hockey friends of Derek's will be coming over and using the bathroom in the hallway so it'd be easier to have my own private one.

He comes in and lays down on my bed while I'm unpacking.

"Derek if you're going to hang out in here anyways, you might as well help me unpack."

"No can do Princess, just here for the company. Anyways, I'm going to go catch up with some friends later for dinner. Did you want to join or sit here by yourself watching some boring Rom Com?"

Wait did he just willingly agree to introduce me to his friends? I thought I was going to have to wait until classes start to meet people in my classes and was prepared for a kind of lonely week ahead of me.

"Sure Derek, that sounds great, thanks."

"Okay just don't wear anything embarrassing or say anything dumb. And stay away from my guy friends, I don't need another Sam situation."

I throw my pillow at him while he's already leaving the room laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

It's nice to see one familiar face at dinner at least. Sam was was visiting Kingston to spend his last week of summer at his aunt's house so Derek invited him to dinner too. That's probably why Derek invited me along too, so he has somebody to make Sam feel less weird. There's no other logical explanation on why Derek would make me feel less lonely.

Now that I think of it, there were multiple times throughout high school where I was at a low point and he helped me out, like both year's for prom (the dress situation and the whole Max being a completely useless prom date and then not having a date for senior prom).

He definitely has an ulterior motive though. Maybe he's planning on pranking me tonight. I have to make sure to not let my guard down.

My thoughts are interrupted when Derek throws a bread roll at my face.

"Der-ek!"

"Spacey you were spacing out again. Don't do that when my friends come, I don't want them to think I'm trying to get them to befriend some kind of nut job."

I'm about to give a rebuttal to his insult when a group of 4 people pull up to the table. Derek gets up to greet them.

The first person he greets is a short but perky blonde girl who he gives a hug to. Definitely Derek's type. I don't like her. Derek introduces her as Olivia.

The next two are big tall guys who are definitely hockey players. One has blonde hair and is wearing cute square shaped glasses, Derek introduces him as Jake, while the other has dark hair and tan skin, and Derek says this is Ben. I didn't realize Derek would have such attractive friends, I would've put more makeup on today.

His last friend is a brunette girl named Jan, clinging close to Olivia. I'm guessing they've been friends for a long time. They kind of remind me of Em and I in high school after I first moved, since I'd cling close to her at any social interactions like parties since I was never good at talking to people myself.

The first party I ever went to without Emily was the one in Toronto, where Truman ditched me and I ended up spending the night talking to the host's dad. I smile remembering how sweet Derek was to me that night. This is the second time I'm remembering how he keeps coming to my rescue.

Olivia starts with speaking first, "I'm so happy to finally meet you Casey! Derek has told us so much in the past year about you. Everything we do, "Casey says this" or "No Casey would do it this way" or "Did I tell you about the time Casey fell down the stairs at school" Oh and remember when- OW."

She stops speaking to rub her ankle with a look of pain on her face.

"DER-EK why did you kick me?"

"Whoops, slip of the foot. Anyways, moving on."

I don't like the way Olivia said his name. I know I don't have the right to declare I'm the only person that can say it that way, but that's my thing.

Ben is the next one to start talking, "He has talked about you a lot, you and Sam. Nice to see you again, Sam. It's very nice that all of you were close friends in high school and staying in touch, I don't think I talk to any of my high school friends anymore."

Wait did he just call me Derek's high school friend?

"Well I mean obviously I have to stay in touch with Derek considering we're -" I start to speak when Sam interrupts me.

"-all very close friends! Plus so much easier to save money on rent when you move in with old friends right?" Sam says while looking at me with his eyes squinted.

I'm not really sure what's going on but when I try to meet eyes with Derek, he's engrossed in a conversation with Jan and avoiding all eye contact with me.

"Casey I was going to ask the waiter about how we're splitting the check later so they don't mess it up later, do you want to come with me?" Sam asks while standing up from his seat.

"Uh why would you really need me for that?"

Sam, clearly annoyed that I didn't pick up on his hint, just grabs my arm and we start to walk to the front desk of the restaurant. I can see Derek looking at us suspiciously over his shoulder.

"Sam, what is going on with you?"

"Derek didn't tell anybody you were his step sister, nobody really asked how you knew each other whenever he'd bring you up so everybody just assumed you guys are close friends. I noticed it the last few times I was here whenever your name came up, especially when people were teasing him about how you guys are moving in together."

"That doesn't make any sense, why would Derek ever willingly let people think he'd hang out with me on purpose? He used to say I ruined his rep in high school."

"I don't know why he's doing it but he obviously has his reasons. But think about it this way, do you really consider Derek your brother?"

"No, I guess not really."

"And are your parents here, that you'd have to act like siblings at all?"

"No, I guess not," I'm mumbling now because I start to see his point on why correcting anybody doesn't seem to matter.

"Don't you think this could be good for your relationship with him? No pressure of being siblings, no forced relationship. We could all use a break from the fighting honestly."

"First of all, I have no "relationship" with Derek."

"Casey, that's obviously not what I meant." Sam is rolling his eyes and looking back at our table at Derek's glare. I can see Derek try to ask him what's up but Sam shrugs it off.

"Just give it a chance Casey, okay? This could be good for both of you."

"Mmm yeah okay whatever, can we go back to sitting down?"

—

Dinner is going well, all of Derek's friends seem really nice. I'm surprised he made such a sensible and sweet friend group. I expected him to just have loud obnoxious hockey friends honestly.

Olivia is pre-law, trying to become an immigration lawyer for 3rd world countries. She's making it kind of hard to hate her, but I still don't like her. Or the way Derek has had his arm around the back of her chair.

Jan is trying to become a teacher, Ben is pre med, and Jake is a journalism major, just like me.

"Are you taking media for the arts this semester? I have it on Wednesdays at 10:20 AM," Jake asks me before taking a bite of his salmon.

"Yeah, I think I'm in your class!" I exclaim a little too loudly. I can't help but feel relieved that I'll have at least one familiar face in my class.

We go on to talk about classes and more high school memories. Derek even brings up the story about Scott, Lizzie's soccer coach, and how he had brought all his girlfriends to the house. He laughs remembering how he even hooked up with one of them later that night.

I roll my eyes. I can't help but notice how when he talks about Lizzie in that story, he refers to her as "my" step sister, and not our sister. I still don't understand why he isn't making it clear that we're from the same family, but I know Sam isn't going to let me call him out so I let it be.

"Casey always had a bad taste in guys, whether it was boring Max or douche bag Truman."

"Hey! Okay, well I guess I agree Truman is a douche bag, but Max was sweet."

"The only decent guy you ever picked up was Sam over here, and you guys couldn't get along for more than 5 minutes."

"Hey that's not true, we got along. We weren't that bad together," Sam says with a grin.

"Wait wait wait, Sam and Casey went out? How did you never mention this Derek? And how were you cool with-" Olivia had started speaking but Derek quickly puts a bite of his pasta in her mouth.

"Here Olivia try this!"

"Der-ek!"

If she says his name that way once more, I might throw a bread roll at her.

—

"Why did you have to tell everybody about Sam and I going out?" I groan to Derek on the car ride home from the restaurant. We're sitting in the Prince, driving home from the restaurant.

"Just thought I'd remind you guys why you ended in the first place, you know, in case you were thinking about getting back together," he says, not really making eye contact with me while he looks straight ahead.

"Get back together? Why would you think Sam and I are ever going to get back together?"

"I don't know you guys were talking alone for a while. I don't care what you do, just didn't want to deal with the drama of 'we broke up again' 'we're back together again' and all the tears, especially since there's not Lizzie or Nora to console you this time."

"You thought we were talking about getting back together?" I start laughing, realizing this is why Derek was glaring as us weirdly the entire time we were talking.

"Well, weren't you?"

"No Derek, you dumb ass. He was telling me to go along with this whole "high school friends" charade you have going on with your friends."

"Oh- that."

"Yes- 'that.' Were you going to let me in on that before I ended up making myself look stupid in front of all your friends? Thank God Sam was there."

"Sorry I didn't really think about it. I don't consider you my sibling, so I never thought it was important to tell people our parents are married and I don't know, I don't like calling you my step sister."

He's mumbling and playing with his hands while we're at a stoplight now.

"Well, I don't really consider you my brother either so it's fine. Makes me look less dorky sharing an apartment with my friend versus with my step brother anyways."

"Yeah exactly, that's why. Glad we're on the same page."

The rest of the car ride is silent. I don't know the way around campus that well, but I do recognize the street we live on, and I recognize when Derek takes a turn in the opposite direction.

"Where are we going?"

"I thought I'd show you my favorite spot on campus if you don't mind? Unless you have some nerdy plans for the night like reading your syllabus."

"Yeah that sounds good, and shut up I wasn't planning on doing that," I respond, lying because that was actually my plan for the rest of the night.

I don't know why he's still being nice to me but why question something that doesn't feel totally wrong. I guess a year without fighting did us some good.


	3. Chapter 3

As we pull up to this giant library on campus, I'm confused.

A) The library is closed. If this was Derek's favorite place on campus, wouldn't it make sense that he'd know the times it opens and closes?

B) Derek's favorite place on campus is a LIBRARY? That can't possibly be right. There's no way he changed that much in just one year.

"Derek, what are we doing here?" I ask while he's pulling something out of the trunk.

"Shh just wait Princess."

He's called me that a billion times before, but the tone of his voice makes it sound more like a term of endearment rather than mockery, but he must be trying to keep his volume low since there's a residential hall nearby.

He grabs my hand with his open one, the other one holding his camera, and starts to bring me to the back of the library.

"Derek if this is your way of trying to murder me so you can have the apartment to yourself, I'll let you know that I took some self defense classes in New York and-"

"Casey, would you just shut up for a minute?"

He brings me to a ladder at the back of the building and gestures for me to start climbing.

"There's no way I'm climbing before you. I'll probably get up there and you'll move the ladder and I'lll be stuck on the roof all night. Maybe that's why you've been so nice to me all night."

He's grinning, glad to see he finds my paranoia amusing.

"Okay fine, I'll climb first, just follow me okay?"

I nod uncertainly but do as he says.

As we reach the top, he closes my eyes with his hands. I'm startled by his cold hands on my face, or by the fact that he's touching me in general.

"Okay ready, don't open your eyes until I tell you to," he says while inching us closer to the side of the building.

"Derek, this building is up pretty high, if you push me off, I'll actually die, you know that right?"

"Casey how many times do I have to tell you that this isn't some giant plot for me to murder you. Just be quiet for once in our life woman."

I guess we've reached the edge of the building because he takes his hand off my eyes.

The building is the tallest building in the center of campus, and has a view of the entire city. It is breathtakingly beautiful and I understand why it's Derek's favorite place on campus.

I look over at him to see him taking pictures of me observing the view.

"What are you doing?" I ask in a gentler tone now that I know he's not trying to kill me.

"I wanted to get a picture of your face when you saw the view."

"Derek, this is really beautiful. How did you possibly discover this?"

He's sitting down on a blanket he has in the corner. I recognize it as one of the blankets that Lizzie had knitted for him that Christmas she got into knitting, I have a matching one in my room at home. I don't question why he already has a blanket up here, probably for the girls he brings up here.

"When I first got to campus, I was trying to find good places to take pictures so I was wandering around a lot discovering new places. I got lucky one day when I noticed a maintenance guy climbing down the ladder, so I was able to assume that the top didn't have any kind of lock at the top."

He's gesturing for me to come sit next to him now. He's sitting leaning back on his hands behind him, and I sit next to him. I'm half a foot away but since his arms are taking up the entire blanket, I can feel his arm lightly touching my back while I lean.

"So how many dates have you brought up here already?"

"You're actually the first person I've brought up here Case," he says, not looking at me while he speaks, but instead at the beautiful view in front of us.

"There is no way. This place is a total babe magnet."

"First of all, never use the words 'babe magnet' again, that was so creepy. Second of all, I like this place a lot. I wouldn't want it to be tainted with memories of girls I never spoke to again."

"Why haven't you brought any of your friends then?"

"I don't know I guess I wanted to make sure if I brought someone here, they're definitely somebody who's going to be in my life for a long time, since I don't want to ever stop coming here."

I smile softly at the fact that he thinks we're going to be in each other's lives for a long time. But then I remember our parents are married and we share a sibling so well- duh.

We sit quietly there for a while, looking out at the view, until we decide to go back to our apartment, sleep overcoming both of us.

Once we're back in the apartment, I bump into Derek walking back from the kitchen to my room. I was finishing up putting my things away while he was walking back to his room from the bathroom where he was brushing and getting ready for bed.

I can tell his eyes are fluttering and ready to crash any second.

I pull back his arm outside his bedroom door to ask him a question that had been bothering me all day.

"Derek- why were you so nice to me today? You introduced me to all your friends and showed me your favorite place on campus. Why couldn't we have ever been like this when we were in high school?"

"I don't know Case, I guess I feel like I don't need to keep up any show for our parents anymore. And just maybe, I sort of, kinda, maybe a little, missed you a bit for the past year. Okay well, good night!" he says awkwardly, gives me a quick peck on the cheek, before closing his bedroom door and leaving me there confused.

Show for our parents? What does that mean? And he missed me? There is no way he just admitted that. And the peck on the cheek? Maybe he just got touchy feely in the last year, I mean I saw him hug both Olivia and Jan bye.

Something still felt.. different.


	4. Chapter 4

**I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the follows and reviews in just a few days! I was shocked at how many people are still reading Dasey fanfic, I thought I was the only one honestly. Hope you guys are enjoying it!**

* * *

The next couple days fly by normally. I spend most the days unpacking my things and getting ahead in my classes. Derek spends most the days outside of the apartment in practice, and since I don't really know anybody else yet or have a car, I spend most the days sitting by myself at home.

I guess whatever weird feeling of sweetness he had towards me temporarily has passed and we're back to coexisting with an occasional bickering over small things.

It's been 3 days since he took me to the roof of the library when he pops his head into my room early in the morning.

"Case, what have you been doing all day while I've been at practices?"

"I don't know, sitting at home. It's not like I have a car or friends."

"Oh." His face drops, "I'm sorry I totally didn't realize, things have been so hectic since practice started again. How about I make it up to you tonight, I'll get ice cream on my way home and we'll watch some stupid movie. I'll even let you pick and then tomorrow we go furniture shopping for couches for the living room? Because I'm seriously tired of sitting on the floor as cozy as it is."

I'm smiling at the prospect of having plans.

"Sure Derek, that sounds good. Why don't we get takeout for dinner too? Or is your practice going to end too late?"

"Uh no practice should be over by like 4, but I promised Olivia we'd get dinner. We always get dinner once every 2-3 weeks to catch up. You're welcome to join us though, I can have her pick you up."

"No, I'm okay. Enjoy your dinner, take your time."

Why do I sound annoyed? Derek is allowed to have plans with whoever he wants, it's not like we had plans to get dinner and he was canceling on me. I did miss out on a whole year of his life.

"Are you sure? I can cancel on her if you wanted to do something."

"No seriously it's okay, we'll do the ice cream and movie after. I have stuff to catch up on anyways," I say lying. "Maybe I'll take a walk to campus and try to make friends or something."

"Okay," he says with a smile, "Don't get yourself killed or something or Nora might seriously kill me considering it hasn't even been a week."

He's out of the room before my pillow is able to hit his face.

—

The walk to campus isn't too bad. Only about ten minutes. I don't know many buildings yet, but I figured I'd walk around and try to find my classes buildings, and maybe even see the inside of the library, since that's technically the only building I know right now.

I'm staring at a campus map trying to find the hall for my Calculus class, when I walk smack into a hard chest and send both of our papers flying. I look up to see Jake, Derek's friend that I had met a few days ago.

"Oh my god sorry I didn't realize where I was going, I didn't mean to mess up your things. Derek would kill me if I started the Klutzilla thing around his friends again."

He laughs while we're bending down to pick up our papers.

"No worries, I'm the one who knows his way around, I should be apologizing to you. What are you doing on campus when classes haven't started yet?"

"I thought I'd find the rooms for my classes beforehand so I'm not late on the first day, and maybe check out the library," I say quietly, realizing how dorky I sound.

"Derek was right, you are a keener," he says with a wide grin, "Here I can at least show you the way to our media for the arts class if that helps."

"Yeah that'd be great! I haven't been able to even locate that building on the map."

"I'm actually a teaching assistant for a summer class in that building, which is where I was walking now if you wanted to come along."

"Really? That's so cool. What class?"

"Introduction to writing, the basic writing course all freshmen take. Most of the class is either incoming sophomores who failed the first time or transfers."

As I walk alongside him, I'm secretly hopeful that I'll meet people who might be in my classes later. I'm so glad I ran into him out of all people.

—

Once I'm back in my apartment, I warm up some leftover pasta while I go sit in my bed to eat while reading emails and looking through pictures from New York. The only furniture in the apartment right now is both of our bedroom furniture so our beds and desk and dresser. As of now we don't have a dining table or living room couch yet.

Of course Derek made sure to get a TV before I came, but he hasn't had time to set it in yet so not sure where we're going to watch the movie. He probably thought of something.

I was tired from walking to campus, and all around campus. I even sat in on Jake's entire class. He was a great teacher and the students seemed to really like him, all thanking him on the way out since it was their last day. I even got this one red-headed girl's number who turned out to be in my calculus class. I start dozing off waiting for Derek to get home.

"Case, psst. Are you awake?" Derek says shaking me.

I don't know how long I've been asleep but when my eyes open I see Derek there with a smile on his face holding 2 cartons of ice cream and 2 giant spoons.

"Am I too late? It's only 9:30 I thought it'd be fine."

Wow I fell asleep at 8:30 PM. I'm embarrassed.

"No sorry I just had a tiring day," I say while getting out of bed and consciously fixing my hair. I see Derek look at my legs when I'm getting out of bed but shrug it off because he's a normal 20 year old male and I am wearing really short shorts.

"How exactly are we planning on watching a TV with no movie?"

"Easy, I have DVD's and my computer in my room, we can watch on my bed," he says while walking over to his room with the ice cream still in his hand. I follow him into his room and take a seat at his desk. He takes off his shirt to change into his pajamas, and I can't deny that I'm surprised at how much his body changed in college.

I guess he noticed me gawking because he turns and gives me a grin before asking if I like what I see. Rolling my eyes, I face the other way while he changes his pants.

I'm staring at all his posters and pictures he has up. There's some typical ones of our whole family, a few with Abby, of course one of just Marti. I'm surprised to see the picture of me and him at graduation hanging up. I remember that picture, we were wearing our graduation gowns and George and my mom asked us to take a picture together. Derek pretended to act disgusted before he actually put his arm around me for the picture and I remember feeling happy that we were almost sort of friends.

"Hello, earth to Casey?"

I turn back around, Derek is changed and under his comforter with his laptop on his lap while patting the spot next to him on his bed, the side closer to the wall. I awkwardly crawl over him before sitting on the comforter while he's picking a movie.

I feel too weird getting under the same comforter so I sit pretzel legged next to him while beginning on my ice cream. I'm pleased with his ice cream selection choice, remembering Chunky Monkey was my favorite flavor. He got rocky road for himself I'm assuming, anybody who knows him would know that's his favorite flavor.

"Let me try," he says motioning towards my ice cream while bringing his spoon closer.

"Yeah of course, but don't put your rocky road ice cream spoon into my carton, I don't like when the flavors mix like that."

He rolls his eyes at my particularness and then asks how he's supposed to try the ice cream when he can't use his spoon.

I ponder about it for a second until I finally take a scoop on my own spoon and put it in his mouth without thinking too much about it. He looks surprised but then does the same back with his rocky road ice cream. I think about bringing up the fact that he doesn't care about mixing flavors in his carton so I could've used my own spoon, but he was being nice so need to start an argument.

"Anyways, what movie are we watching?"

"Sorry Case, the only DVD's I have are all horror movies. I forgot about that when I asked this morning. I picked something not too scary though if that helps."

I shudder remembering the last time I watched a horror movie with him but nod agreeing since it's better than no movie at all. I'm feeling cold now with his air conditioning blasting and eating ice cream so I silently get under the comforter with him, both of our backs leaning on pillows against the headboard. He turns off the lights so it's easier to see the laptop screen.

The movie is definitely "not too scary." It's really freaking scary. I'm screaming at every scene, and eventually put my ice cream down on his desk to avoid flinging it all over the bed.

Derek slowly slides his arm behind me. I look at him from the corner of my eye suspiciously.

"What? It'll be easier if you just hide in my shoulder than flinging the comforter up to your face every 2 minutes and knocking the laptop over."

He does have a point.

And that's exactly what I do for the next hour until the movie ends. By the time it's over, I'm completely crawled into his shoulder with my hair covering my face.

"Is it over?"

"Yes Case it's over, you're such a baby," he says laughing, I can tell he's doing his infamous smirk even through the darkness, now that the laptop light was gone.

We're sitting in silence for a little while until I finally gather up the courage to speak.

"Is it okay if I sit here for a little while before I go back to my bed?"

"Are you really that scared?" he says, clearly teasing in his voice.

"Ugh okay never mind," I start getting out of his bed and crossing over him to go back to my own room.

"Relax Case I was joking, we can talk about other stuff until you forget the movie and then you can go back to your bed," he says while grabbing my arm when I was about to get off the bed. Because I was crossing over him, I land on top of him.

This is a weird situation especially considering we're in the dark so I quietly roll back to my spot under the comforter, slightly relieved that he told me to stay because I was terrified to even walk back to my bedroom right now. At least back at home I had Lizzie when I got scared by these movies.

"Okay so what'd you do today?" he says laying down with his head propped up on one hand facing me. I'm laying down looking up at the ceiling to avoid making eye contact even if it's dark, I've never talked to Derek this way before and it's hard not to feel weird about it. Our bodies are slightly touching from the closeness of the bed.

"Well I was walking around campus looking for my classes buildings when I ran into Jake. Literally, ran right into him. And he offered to show me around and even let me sit in on the summer class he was teaching. He also offered to show me the coffee shop tomorrow evening when we meet!"

I can feel Derek's body stiffening next to me, not sure why.

"That's cool," he says with his tone seeming colder than before.

"Well how was your date with Olivia?" I ask trying to change the topic and lighten the mood, although I'm not sure what darkened it in the first place.

"Date? Olivia and I are not dating Case. We're just really good friends and were catching up over food. She helped me with a lot of personal things last year and I helped her through trying to get over someone. These dinners are our way of making sure the other person isn't slipping up."

"Personal things? What kind of personal things were you going through?"

"I'll tell you one day maybe. Tell me about New York, you've barely mentioned it."

"Well, it started off rough. I thought my kiss with Jesse at the end of the summer meant we'd have something when I went to New York but he got there a few weeks before me and had already met a girl by the time I got there."

"Oh shit, that's rough."

"Language," I say narrowing my eyes at him.

"Yeah yeah, but I knew he was a dick. Did you make other friends at least?"

"Yeah some of the girls in the show were really nice, I spent most my time with them and bonding with my dad who I was living with so that was great. But I did miss home."

"Well home missed you too."

—

I have no idea what time I dozed off, but when I wake up it's light outside and I'm still in Derek's bed, I'm all the way against the wall on my side of the bed while he's just a few inches away, taking up the entire bed.

I wake him up with a violent shaking.

"Der-ek!"

"What? I'm not even awake yet, what'd I do wrong?"

"Why didn't you wake me up and send me to my own bed?"

"Well," he's opening his eyes and turning his body over to look at me, "After you fell asleep, very rudely mid conversation I should add, I had 3 options."

"And those were?"

"Either A) I wake you up and you yell at me. B) I go and sleep in your bed, and then you wake up and yell at me. or C) I just sleep next to you, and you wake up and yell at me. And then option C required the least amount of moving, and I was going to get yelled at either way soooo."

"You're an idiot," while rolling my eyes at him.

"You excited to go furniture shopping?" he says while getting out of his bed and getting his things ready for his shower.

"Yes, finally a couch and dining table!"

"Okay how about we go get ready, we'll go to a diner for breakfast, and then shopping day?"

"Sounds good, don't forget I need to be back by 5 PM to go to the coffee place with Jake."

"Yeah yeah," he says shrugging his shoulders. I wonder if he doesn't like Jake or something. He's always been weird about guys I'm hanging out with, but this one is literally HIS friend that he introduced me to. Maybe it's a Sam situation all over.

Before I can ask, he's out of the room to go shower so I go gather my own stuff from my own.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry it's kind of a short fluff chapter, but I wanted this chapter to be just Casey and Derek so I couldn't fit in the other parts yet. Posting the next one either tomorrow or the day after don't worry!

* * *

As we sit down at the diner, the waitress walks over to take our order. She's a middle aged blonde woman who gives a big smile to Derek.

"Derek! How are you?" She asks.

I guess he's been to this place before. Supposedly a lot considering she knows his name.

"I'm great Gina! How's my favorite blonde? Did you miss me?" he says with his usual charming smirk.

"Please Derek, don't try to flatter me. We all know who your favorite blonde is. I'm happy to see you back for the year though. Now who's this pretty lady?" She looks over at me with a friendly wave.

"Gina this is Casey. Casey this is Gina. Beautiful blonde that brings me breakfast foods, a woman after my own heart."

She laughs and smacks the back of his head while giving out a hand for me to shake.

"I'm Derek's st- friend from school. We're room mates this year."

I don't know why I'm continuing this whole 'pretend we're not family' thing around her too but I guess it'll be easier to practice the pretending if I did it full time.

She nods and lets me know it's nice to meet me before asking us to order.

"I'll have a hot chocolate with the #13 omelette and hash browns and she'll have the orange juice with the strawberry french toast." Derek responds before handing back mine and his menu.

After she leaves the table, I reach over the table and smack him on the back of the head, like Gina just had.

"Ow! It's not even noon yet and I've been smacked twice," he complains while rubbing the back of his head.

"Why did you order for me? I am perfectly capable of ordering for myself. What if that wasn't even what I wanted?"

"But was I wrong?"

"No… but still," I'm looking down at the table and mumbling now, "How did you know that's what I was going to order though?"

"I know you better than you think Princess," he responds.

"Who's the favorite blonde Gina was talking about?" Only blonde I could think about was Sally and I didn't think they were still in touch.

"Olivia, we came here a lot last year and Gina loved us."

"Oh," I respond, not really knowing what else to say. Why is he bringing me to the place he eats at with Olivia? I still don't believe him when he says he doesn't have feelings for her, there's no way he'd be that close to a girl without having feelings for her.

We talk about things here and eventually once our food comes, we eat together in comfortable silence. If it was anybody else, I would've felt like I need to keep the conversation going while we eat out of formalities, but I'm so comfortable around Derek it's nice to sit in silence together while we eat.

Furniture shopping goes well, of course Derek want's the most simple and ugly tables/couches while he says mine look too girly.

Eventually he agrees that we can get the living room furniture that I like if he can get a recliner chair. Typical but it's a good bargain to get to decide everything else, and we do have enough in our budget from what Abby and my dad had gave us for furniture.

Since George and my mom had paid for the apartment (George considered it an investment that he could lease out to future college students after we graduate - a good way to have a constant flow of money for all the other kids he has to send to college), Abby and Dennis had felt guilty and decided to help us out with furniture.

As for the rest of the year, the day to day stuff we'd handle ourselves. I still had a good amount of money saved up from working in New York, and Derek had just gotten a job as a waiter at an Italian place on campus that I had yet to see.

When we're done picking everything and settling on the shipment dates, he sits down exhausted on one of the couches.

I'm about to yell at him to get up so we can get going when he grabs a hold of my wrist and pulls me down on the couch too.

"Derek lets go homeeeee," I'm starting to whine.

He puts his forehead on my shoulder and acts like he's about to fall asleep. I'm rolling my eyes, furniture shopping is really not that tiring.

"Soon, lets rest here for a minute."

Sighing, I pretend like I'm annoyed but I'm actually kind of comfy so I settle into the couch, his forehead still resting on my shoulder with his head facing downwards.

A cute old couple is walking by us.

"Aw aren't you two just the cutest couple?" the grandma exclaims looking at us, "Newly weds shopping for your new home?"

"No- college students shopping for their apartment," Derek responds, not correcting her on the couple part.

"Oh so sweet, I remember when we were your age. Moving in together all young. Don't believe anybody when they say you're too young to know she's the one, okay?" the grandpa says.

I want to correct them on the couple part but I'm more interested in the story behind why he's saying this so I ask him what he means. They tell us a whole story about how they moved in together in college, and everybody said they were too young to know they'd be together forever but now they've been married for 50 years, and together for 55.

"Yeah don't worry, I know Case will always be in my life," he says while giving me a wink, his arm around me. When did he even put his arm around me? How did I not notice?

"Yeah well, our parents are close," I say giving him a smirk back.

—

On the car ride back, Derek starts turning towards our street.

"Derek I'm meeting Jake for coffee remember?"

"Oh yeah, how could I forget?" he groans, before turning around to drive me to the coffee place.

"Do you have a problem with this or something? Is Jake not a good guy?"

"No," he mumbles, "Jake is a great guy."

"Then what's the issue?"

"Nothing. I just don't like you dating my friends."

"No Derek if I seem to remember right, you don't seem to like me dating anybody. You didn't like Max or Truman either. Also made jokes about Jesse most of last summer."

"Well first of all, nobody likes Truman. Max just had no personality and Jesse I was right about not liking too."

"Is there any guy that you'll ever be okay with me dating?"

"Yeah- one guy but you wouldn't date him."

"Wait what do you mean?"

"Nothing, we're here." He leans over and opens the car door, kicking me out. Leaving me more confused than ever.


	6. Chapter 6

_I know I said I would update in the next few days and now it's been like 2 weeks. I suck I'm sorry but I think this is a semi long chapter so hopefully that makes up for it?_

 _ **DEREKS POINT OF VIEW!**_

After dropping Casey off, I pull out my phone, not wanting to go back to my apartment alone until I have to pick her up.

"Hey you busy?" I ask when the person on the other line picks up.

"Yeah sure, just finished packing. What's up?" Sam responds.

20 minutes later, Sam and I are playing Babe Raider in his aunt's basement.

"Not that I don't mind kicking your ass at babe raider, but is there a particular reason you wanted to hang out at this exact moment?" Sam asks.

"Can't I see my best friend one last time before he goes back to Toronto and leaves me again?" I say, pretending to clutch my heart out of offense.

"Who knew Derek Venturi was such a sentimental guy? Now what's the real reason?"

"Nothing, I just dropped Case off somewhere and I probably have to pick her up again in 2 hours so I wanted to kill time."

"Ah I see. And where did you drop her off?"

"To get coffee with Jake," I mumble, not taking my eyes away from the screen.

"Hmm. Interesting."

"Can you stop analyzing me? Just because you're a psychology major doesn't mean everything has some deep meaning. I just wanted to play video games," I say with a slight annoyance in my tone. Sam knows me well enough to know I'm not actually annoyed though.

"No no totally, I understand. But are you going to ever explain to me why you didn't tell anybody Casey is your step sister? I've gone along with it for the past year without any questions, I think I deserve an explanation now." Sam asks me, while restarting the game since he beat me once again. Man, did he get better at this game in college? Maybe it has something to do with psychology, he can analyze my next moves or something.

"I don't know, it never came up."

"So Casey came up multiple times, but you never felt the need to say step sister? And all the times you told everybody about your family, you just never mentioned your other step sister? I see."

"Sam," I growl, "What did I just say about analyzing me?"

"I'm not, I'm not. Just asking questions. You're lucky I told Casey to go along with it, were you planning on just throwing her in the middle of your friends and never having it come up?"

"Yeah I guess that was kind of stupid. Thanks for helping me out there, I guess," I say with a smirk and shrug.

"So don't I deserve an explanation as a favor in return?"

"No, sorry," I say while taking a sip of the root beer in front of me.

"Just admit it Derek - you've finally realized your feelings for Casey and you're considering pursuing it now and you didn't want the whole step thing to get in the way or make people around you judge."

I spit out everything in my mouth and pause the game.

"What?!" I say, turning and looking at him, "Where did you get that from?!"

"Please Derek, am I wrong?"

I don't say or do anything besides staring at him with my mouth open out of shock.

"Exactly," he says smirking, clearly proud for figuring it out.

"How did you possibly know that?" I ask, still out of shock.

"Well I always knew you had feelings for her, even in high school. Which is why you hated me dating her, which is why I realized I needed to permanently end things with her. And then I figured you'd finally get together but then Casey went to New York for a year and I wasn't sure anymore. But then every time we talked last year, you'd bring her up and talk about how she was doing, so I knew you were still in touch, so I didn't lose the idea of you two in my head. Once I visited you and realized you'd dropped the step siblings part from your association of her, I had a pretty good idea why."

"So? I could've been in touch with her in like a brother-sister kind of way," I say, cringing at the word 'sister'.

"How much did you talk to Lizzie in the last year?"

I'm stumped at his question for a second until I respond.

"Shut up, that doesn't prove anything."

"Okay well tell me if I'm wrong when I say this is along the lines of what happened: You got to college, you stayed in touch with her, you realized you missed her a lot, got fucked up when you realized how you feel about her, went through some shit in a dark place, finally admitted you have feelings for her to someone else out loud, were secretly happy when your parents said they'd get you a place together, and are now trying to think about how to tell her- oh and you hate that she's hanging out with Jake at this very moment."

I'm staring at Sam amazed. I mean I knew he knew me pretty well, but this is insane.

"Wha- How. How do you possibly know all this?"

"I know you better than I know anybody else in my life Derek. Now, have I finally earned the right to the entire story?"

I have no other option than to give it to him now, otherwise he might figure that part out himself too, so I begin the short recap of what happened in the past year.

—

After I got to Queens, I lived in a dorm where Ben was my room mate. We met Jake through hockey and slowly became close friends with Olivia and Jen joining our friend group.

I got close to Olivia fast, and I thought I'd have feelings for her. She was exactly my type, and we got along so well. But something felt like it was missing and I could never put my finger on what it was. I felt like I was obligated to myself to at least try to pursue something with her, just because that's what I would've done before. So, we started hanging out alone more.

Throughout this time, I was keeping in touch with Casey. We'd text and she'd send me long paragraphs on her day to day life and I'd tell her whatever I could about home and everything I knew was going on.

The first time I visited home from college, I felt really alone at home. Sure I love Marti, I love my dad, I guess I kinda love Edwin. Heck, I love Lizzie and Nora as much as I love Marti and my own mother at this point. But I felt really alone in my own house, it felt quiet and the first night after everybody went to sleep, I ended up hanging out in Casey's room for a while and reminiscing about our fights and schemes.

I called Casey that night and pretended it was a butt dial, but stayed on the phone with her for an hour. After I hung up, I finally fell asleep feeling a little better.

This is the first time I realized I might feel something for her more than step siblings, when I realized how she made that lonely feeling go away and how much I actually missed her.

That's when I realized I was in deep shit.

I can't have feelings for my step sister. Isn't that like illegal or something? No I guess not, we're both 18, not related at all. But I don't know, I loved Lizzie and Nora and I wouldn't want to put myself in a place where they'd be mad at me.

So once I got back to college, I started drinking a lot.

I'd go to parties, and try to hook up with random brunettes that reminded me of Casey but I'd never let it go further than making out once it reached that point because I'd feel gross.

Eventually, Olivia noticed this and asked me to hang out one day. We were sitting on my couch one day, drinking. Her: wine, me: beer.

Until eventually she randomly grabbed my face and started kissing me. I was surprised, but I continued. This is what I was supposed to do right? Here's this girl in front of me, smoking hot blonde, actually intelligent, somebody I can hang out with for hours without getting bored, this would be the perfect way to move on from - well you know who.

But it still didn't feel right. I didn't know how to stop the kissing without making her feel uncomfortable until she pulled back herself.

That's when I noticed she had tears in her eyes.

"Hold up hold up hold up- why are you crying? Am I that bad?" I joked, while completely freaked out since I don't do well with tears.

"No, it's not that. Imwjustnoto-" she starts blubbering, but I clearly couldn't understand her through her crying, which was getting harder.

I got up quickly and got her tissues and came back and sat down next to her on my dorm bed.

"Okay how about you calm down and then tell me what's wrong?" I say, slightly relieved that at least this way the kissing had stopped without me having to make it weird. Dealing with tears is better than dealing with awkward post-kiss situations I think.

"Me and my high school boyfriend dated for 4 years in high school and then decided that we needed some time apart to understand ourselves better and see other people in college, I have a friend attending college with him who told me he's already been on dates and hooked up with girls at parties, while I've been sitting here spending my nights alone in my dorm room crying and watching Rom Com movies," Olivia started explaining.

I tried not to smile, since she's clearly in distress, but I can't help but think how similar her and Casey are when it comes to break ups.

"So I decided I'd try to move on too. But I couldn't get myself to feel anything real for anybody. I thought maybe having one fling of a hook up would make me feel better. And then I thought you were interested in me before, but then you started hooking up with a lot of girls too and drinking a lot and I thought I missed my chance for the hook up so it was now or never when I asked you to hang out today, but I just can't get myself to do it, it feels wrong. I know I'm not dating him anymore but it feels wrong," she says, sniffling while wiping her dripping mascara off the side of her eyes with the tissues I gave her.

Before I have a chance to respond, she starts continuing again.

"And then I also started thinking about how pathetic I am, trying to hook up with this guy before he loses interest in me, while he's clearly on some kind of hook up frenzy right now going through his own shit. And don't get me wrong, I don't think of you as someone to just have a fling with and get over, I did think you're a really sweet guy, but I can't see myself-"

"No it's fine you don't need to explain yourself. I would understand if anybody viewed me that way considering how I've been acting lately," I tell her.

"Yeah, what happened to you? You weren't like this in the beginning of the year."

"I guess I'm kinda in the same boat as you with trying to get over someone. I don't think it's working though. And don't get me wrong, I think you're great too, but I can't see myself liking anybody else either."

"Awwww that is the sweetest thing ever, tell me about her."

So I spent the next hour telling her all about Casey and how she's in New York and I miss her. Just conveniently leaving out the whole step sibling part and telling her how it'd be difficult if we dated, since our families are close and I wouldn't want to ruin it if it didn't work out between us.

She also spends that hour reassuring me that if I feel this strongly for her, I'd be crazy to not give it a chance once she's back. It feels nice to talk about Casey like this, as if it's a normal "boy likes girl, scared of his feelings" situation and she actually makes me feel like it wouldn't be totally crazy if I thought I liked her.

She also tells me all about her ex boyfriend from college, and how upset she's been.

After this, we made a pact to be each other's "rocks" (She chose the term - not me) and we slowly became best friends. I'd hang out with her and make sure she wasn't going crazy being upset over her ex, and she'd hang out with me making sure I'm not drinking a lot and hooking up with random girls.

Life slowly went back to normal, and I came to terms with the fact that I have feelings for her and decided to slowly pursue them once she's back.

—

Sam is looking at me with a stupid grin on his face as I'm finishing up my story. That old sap.

"You'd think that having a whole year to think about this would give me some sort of plan right? Nope, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing," I say groaning and putting my face in my hands, too embarrassed to look at him after I just talked about all these f-f-f-eelings.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi guys! I know its been a longgg time since I updated. College kind of got to me and I had sort of a writers block on how I wanted to continue this story. Hopefully this isn't too late and all of you haven't lost interest. Let me know what you think in the reviews or if theres anything in particular you'd like to see in coming chapters. And a happy late thanksgiving for those in the states!

* * *

Back to Casey's point of view!

As I'm waiting outside the coffee shop, I'm wondering why it's already slightly cold. I know we live in Canada and all, but I'm not ready to give up shorts and tank tops yet.

I had texted Derek as I was done hanging out with Jake if he could come pick me up. Jake offered to drive me back but I also left my keys for the house in Derek's (our?) car so I would have to wait until he's home anyways. I need to remember to ask him on whether I get to use the car or not when he isn't.

I picked up his favorite drink (a medium caramel latte) to go after he told me he was five minutes away. I remembered him telling me that was his favorite order at some coffee shop at college, hopefully this is the coffee shop he was talking about.

Hanging out with Jake had been nice, he told me all this information about the school and the English department that I was dying to know. I'm glad I was able to meet somebody of the same major before school started. He helped me figure out which teachers to avoid and which classes to get out of the way next semester. I'm actually looking forward to seeing him again, I'm glad we have a class together.

As I'm trying to plan out what I need to put together to graduate on time and what classes I should take when, Derek has pulled up to the curb in front of me. Once I get into the car and hand him his drink, I see his eyes light up. Who knew he liked his coffee so much?

"How'd you know what drink I like?" He asked, still smiling at his drink. When did Derek turn into such a sap?

"Maybe I know you better than you think too," I say with a smirk, referring back to what he had said to me in the morning at the diner.

He just laughs and looks straight forward.

"What, no mean or perverted joke?" I ask.

"I told you, I'm turning over a new leaf. Most of the time. You can still expect a few pranks here and there don't worry, for old times sake" he responds.

"What happened to the 'I missed you' Derek that was so nice to me a few days ago," I tease back.

"Moment of weakness, what can I say? Won't happen again," he replies while taking a sip of his coffee, "How was your date?"

He says the word 'date' like he's saying broccoli or curfew or something.

"Not a 'date' but it was fine, he gave me a lot of good info on the journalism major and the English department so I'm glad we met. I'll see him in the class we have together later."

"Gee such exciting date topics, I wonder why your last few boyfriends didn't work out," he says sarcastically.

"Again, not a date. But he still had fun with me, thank you very much."

"Try not to make yourself sound like such a prostitute."

"Der-ek!"

Once I've settled down after hitting him on the arm and him trying to dodge me while continuing to drive, I continue the conversation because I feel like I need to clarify.

"Wait it wasn't a date right? Because like I really don't talk about that stuff on dates. Oh god. What if it was a date and I completely bored the crap out of him?"

"Relax Case I'm joking. Jake is a good guy, even if it was a date, he wouldn't mind that shit," he responds, looking straight ahead at the road, as if making eye contact with me while reassuring me would completely break character for him.

"So what kind of stuff DO you talk about on a first date?" He continues, making eye contact with me now and smirking.

"I don't know. Family, future goals, etc. I guess," I reply, "What about you? What famous Derek Venturi moves do you use on first dates?"

"I don't do a lot of talking on the first date," he says grinning, clearly making a perverted joke.

"Ew, Der-ek!" Once again, I find myself smacking his arm.

"Relax Princess, I'm just joking. I guess the same kind of stuff as you, family and future goals. If I'm serious about the girl, I like to make sure she has a future planned for herself I guess. I like to give a lot of compliments. I'll try to plan the date out so I can see if she likes the same kind of stuff as me."

"Hmm, Derek actually being nice to a girl. Not relatable."

"Hey! I'm nice to you."

"Oh yeah, like when?"

"Like right now. I set up the TV with Sam while you were gone, and picked some stuff up, if you wanted to hang out tonight as a last fun thing before classes start."

As he's saying this, he puts the car into park after he's parked in front of our apartment. He reaches over his shoulder into the back seat and pulls out a DVD with a cheesy rom com movie, just the kind I like.

"Awww how sweet Der-Bear, got a movie I like just like I'm a girl on a date you're trying to impress. You going to let me choose the take-out for today too?"

"Actually, I already ordered your favorite. Garlic Chicken and Broccoli with fried rice."

I'm stunned because I was just teasing, I wasn't expecting him to actually go along with it. He didn't even pretend to gag at the date comment.

Wait is this a date?

No it's not, we live together. Just two room mates watching a movie and eating dinner.

Two step siblings.

What is wrong with me?

I never got this nervous or felt like overthinking everything I said around Derek before. Maybe the year away from home is making me freak out unnecessarily, he's definitely just trying to make me uncomfortable so I'll spaz out.

Hah, I won't give him the reaction he's looking for.

Without a word, I step out of the car and towards the front door. Derek has both of our keys so I'm left waiting at the door step while he takes out the takeout and DVD out of the backseat.

As he opens the door, I see he even put a blanket down on the floor in the living room, with pillows against the wall for us to lean on, in front of the TV since our furniture hasn't come in yet.

I looked over at him confused, because this was definitely not Derek-like.

"What? I don't want your klutzilla ass to drop food on the ground and leave me with vacuuming. Just a precaution," he says sheepishly while putting the takeout on the floor.

Ah yes, that sounds more like Derek.

"Okay, lets go change into PJ's and meet here in 10?"

"Sounds good."

—

After we're done eating and put the takeout aside, I'm leaning back on the pillow watching the movie with Derek leaning next to me.

We're a few inches apart, not touching, but close enough for me to feel his body heat. He had turned the air conditioning on full blast and got us a blanket to cozy up in while watching the movie.

I can't help but think that this moment with Derek feels nicer than any moment with any other moment I had in the past year in New York.

Or even before that. With Truman, all we did was fancy things so he could show off his parent's money or attend school events. Sam was always simple and it was just us hanging out at each other's houses. Max was too oblivious to ever plan nice things for me.

But this feels… different.

Nice different.

But I have to snap myself out of it quickly because this is DEREK.

While we're finishing up eating, Derek pauses the movie to talk for a second.

"Wait I completely forgot, Casey did I tell you the story about Marti's boyfriend while you were in New York?"

"You mean Emily's little brother?"

"No like A real boyfriend. She just announced it at dinner one day and I swear Dad had a heart attack and I spit my water out on Lizzie and then she stood up and the tablecloth went with her and dropped food all over Edwin and then Nora was mad because she worked hard on dinner. All while Marti is sitting there smiling about her boyfriend."

"Oh my god, I'm so sad I missed this. Hopefully Lizzie isn't inheriting my Klutzilla genes." I say, putting my food down because I'm laughing so hard imagining our family in this situation.

"Oh she definitely is. She tripped down the stairs a few weeks ago and toppled right into me and we all landed on Ed."

Once we're done laughing and exchanging stories from the last year, we go back to focusing on the movie. He turned down the lights and now I see him slouch lower in his blanket and can eventually feel him rest his head on my shoulder.

"Okay I guess this movie isn't that bad, you have DECENT taste. And your choice in Chinese food dishes was on point too." he says, looking straight ahead at the movie and not up at my face, as if its the most normal thing in the world for him to be nice to me.

I lean down a little so my head is rested on top of his and I'm breathing in the smell of his shampoo. Which smells a lot like my shampoo. Remind me to call him out on that later, maybe right now isn't the right moment.

"Wow Derek were you just nice to me?"

"Well I told you, I like to give compliments."

"Well yeah.. wait you said you like to do that on dates."

"Yeah, I also like to talk about my family and plan everything. What have I been doing this whole evening Case?" he says, just pulling the blanket up closer to his shoulders and still pretending to focus on the movie. I'm starting to think he doesn't have the courage to say this stuff with the lights on or facing me.

Wait pause.

Did he just admit this is a date?

So I'm not crazy for imagining this right?

But this is DEREK.

Stunned and unsure of how to respond, I just continue watching the movie and place my hand on my lap. Under the blanket, I can feel his hand reach over and rest on top of mine. This time he looks at me and makes eye contact, as if to confirm if it's okay, and everything he just said is okay.

I simply nod and we go back to watching the movie in silence. I'm not sure what just happened but I think I'm going to try overthinking this. I'll focus on the technicalities and logistics tomorrow, when I'm not cuddled up and warm and enjoying the moment.


End file.
